Mobile Communications Device

ABSTRACT

Mobile communications devices are described. In an implementation, a mobile communications device comprises a first housing that includes a display device and a second housing that is moveably attached to the first housing. The second housing includes a keyboard having an orientation that defines a top and bottom of the second housing. The second housing also includes a camera and a flash disposed adjacent to the top of an opposing side of the second housing from the keyboard. The camera and the flash are further disposed at opposing corners, one to another, at the top of the opposing side of the second housing.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S.Patent Application No. 60/992,608, filed Dec. 5, 2007 and titled“Devices, Features and Systems for Mobile Communications”, the entiredisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communications devices (e.g., wireless phones) have become anintegral part of everyday life. For example, a user traditionally usedmobile communications devices to place and receive telephone calls whenthe user was away from a fixed communication device, e.g., a house oroffice telephone. In some instances, the mobile communications devicebecame the primary device via which the user communicated with otherusers as the user became accustomed to the convenience and functionalityof the device.

Further, the communication techniques that may be employed using amobile communications device have increased. For example, users weretraditionally limited to telephone calls between mobile communicationsdevices. Advances were then made to provide a variety of othercommunication techniques, e.g., text messaging and email. However,inclusion of these additional communication techniques on mobilecommunications devices having traditional form factors may cause thesedevices to become unwieldy and less suitable for mobile applications.For example, traditional input devices that were employed by thesecommunication techniques may be less suitable when applied bytraditional mobile communications devices.

SUMMARY

Mobile communications devices are described. In an implementation, amobile communications device comprises a first housing that includes adisplay device and a second housing that is moveably attached to thefirst housing. The second housing includes a keyboard having anorientation that defines a top of the second housing. The second housingalso includes a camera and a flash disposed adjacent to the top of anopposing side of the second housing from the keyboard. The camera andthe flash are further disposed at opposing sides, one to another, at thetop of the opposing side of the second housing.

In an implementation, an apparatus comprises a display device, one ormore modules that are configured to output a user interface on thedisplay device that is navigable by a user and a single button. Thesingle button is selectable using a first technique to cause the one ormore modules to navigate back through the user interface and isselectable using a second technique to cause the one or more modules tonavigate to a particular screen of the user interface that is designatedas home.

In an implementation, a mobile communications device comprises a displaydevice, one or more modules and a button. The one or more modules areconfigured to provide telephonic functionality and to output a userinterface on display device to form one or more messages forcommunication over a network. The button is selectable by a user tocause the one or more modules to indicate the status of the user to oneor more other users that are to receive the one or more messages.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different instances in thedescription and the figures may indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation of an examplemobile communications device in accordance with one or more embodimentsof devices, features, and systems for mobile communications.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example embodiment in which a mobilecommunications device of FIG. 1 includes a keyboard in a QWERTYconfiguration having additional dedicated buttons to supply additionalfunctionality.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example implementation showing themobile communications device of FIGS. 1 and 2 in a side view.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of an exemplary implementation the mobilecommunications device of FIGS. 1-3 in which camera functionality isincluded.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of various modules of an example device thatcan be implemented in various embodiments as any type of a mobilecommunication device to implement embodiments of devices, features, andsystems for mobile communications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

Users continually desire increased functionality from mobilecommunications devices, e.g., wireless phones, mobile messaging devices,calendaring devices, and so on. For example, users may maintain acalendar, a list of contacts, send and receive text messages, access theInternet, send and receive email, take pictures and so on. However,interaction with this increased functionality in traditional mobilecommunications devices may be difficult due to traditional form factorsthat were employed to keep the device “portable”.

Mobile communications device techniques are described. In animplementation, a back/home button is described that may aid a user innavigating through a user interface. For example, a user may quicklypress the button to navigate back through to a previously displayedscreen in a user interface e.g., such as to move back to a previouslydisplayed webpage. The user may also hold down the button to navigate toa particular screen of the user interface that is designated as home,e.g., such as the user's home webpage, a route screen in a hierarchy ofscreens that formed the user interface and so on. In this way, theback/home button may conserve space on the mobile communications deviceand provide a user quick access to desired functionality, furtherdiscussion of which would be found in relation to FIG. 2.

In an implementation, a button is included on a mobile communicationsdevice that is selectable by a user to indicate a status of the user toone or more other users that are to receive messages from the user. Forexample, the status of the user may be used in an instant messagingsession to indicate a general mood of the user, e.g., such as happy, sadand so on. Accordingly, a user may interact with a particular buttonthat is designed to indicate the status and/or change from one status toanother directly through interaction with the button. The button mayalso be sensitive to a context in which the button is to be used.Continuing with the previous example, the button may be used to indicatea status of the user when used in relation to an instant messagingapplication. However, the button may be used to supply an emoticon(e.g., a happy face) when used in conjunction with the text messagingapplication. A variety of other examples are also contemplated, furtherdiscussion of which may also be found in relation to FIG. 2.

In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes first andsecond housings. The first housing includes a display device and thesecond housing is movably attached the first housing and includes akeyboard. The keyboard has an orientation that defines a top and bottomof the second housing. For example, keys and/or indications of functionson the keys (e.g., particular letters or numbers) may define whichportion of the second housing is the top. The second housing may alsoinclude a camera and a flash that are disposed on the “back” of thesecond housing, e.g., on an opposing side of the second housing from thekeyboard. Further, the camera and flash may be disposed at opposingsides (e.g., corners), one to another, at the top of the opposing sideof the second housing. In this way, a user may grasp the mobilecommunications device without interfering with the operation of thecamera and the flash. Further, positioning of the camera and flash atopposing corners may help to diminish interference of the flash with thecamera. Further discussion of a mobile communications device having acamera and flash may be found in relation to FIG. 4.

In the following discussion, a variety of example implementations of amobile communications device are shown. Additionally, a variety ofdifferent functionality that may be employed by the mobilecommunications device is described for each example, which may beimplemented in that example as well as in other described examples.Accordingly, example implementations are illustrated of a few of avariety of contemplated implementations. Further, although a mobilecommunications device having one or more modules that are configured toprovide telephonic functionality are described, a variety of othermobile communications devices are also contemplated, such as dedicatedmessaging devices, music players, portable game devices, and so on.

Example Implementations

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation 100 of a mobilecommunications device 102 in accordance with one or more embodiments ofdevices, features, and systems for mobile communications. The mobilecommunications device 102 is illustrated as assuming a plurality ofconfigurations, examples of which include a first configuration 104 anda second configuration 106.

The mobile communications device 102 is further illustrated as includinga first housing 108 and a second housing 110 that are connected via aslide 112 such that the first and second housing may move (e.g., slide)in relation to one another. The first housing 108 includes a displaydevice 114 (e.g., a touchscreen) that may be used to output a variety ofdata, such as a caller identification (ID), information related to textmessages as illustrated, email, multimedia messages, Internet browsing,game play, music, video and so on. The second housing 110 is illustratedas including a keyboard 116 that may be used to provide inputs to themobile communications device 102. Although the keyboard 116 isillustrated as a QWERTY keyboard, a variety of other examples are alsocontemplated, such as a twelve key numeric pad.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the first and second housings 104, 106of the mobile communications device 102 are approximately square. Forexample, a plane defined by an outer surface of the display device 114may be parallel to a plane of the first housing 104 that approximates asquare, which may be the same as or different from the plane defined bythe display device 114. In other words, the width and height of theplane taken from the first housing 108 that is parallel to the othersurface of the display device 114 are approximately one-to-one (e.g.,are equilateral rectilinear) as indicated by the brackets in FIG. 1.Likewise, the second housing 110 may be considered approximately squarealong a plane that is parallel to and/or is the same as an outer surfaceof the keyboard 116 disposed within the second housing 110 which is alsoindicated by brackets in the second configuration 106 of FIG. 1.

In the first configuration 104, the mobile communications device 102 isclosed such that the first housing 108 covers the second housing 110.Consequently, the keyboard 116 disposed on the second housing 110 iscovered and is not available to receive input from a user of the mobilecommunications device 102. In an implementation, telephonicfunctionality is still available when the mobile communications device102 is in the first configuration 104, e.g., to receive a telephonecall.

In the second configuration 106, the first housing 108 is moved (e.g.,slid) “away” from the second housing 110 using the slide 112. In thisexample configuration, at least a majority of the keys of the keyboard116 is exposed such that the exposed keys are available to receiveinputs from a user. Accordingly, the second configuration 106 may beconsidered an “open” configuration. Further, the second configuration106 results in a substantially rectangular form factor of the mobilecommunications device 102 as contrasted with a substantially square formfactor of the mobile communications device 102 in the firstconfiguration 104. In an implementation, the planes of the first andsecond housings 110, 112 that are used to define the square form factorare parallel to each other, although other implementations are alsocontemplated.

In the illustrated implementation 100, the display device 114 remainsviewable by a user in each configuration, examples of which are shown inthe first and second configurations 104, 106. In the first configuration104, example text “Text Message from Sara” is illustrated as beingdisplayed on the display device 114. Additionally, the example text isillustrated as being orientated with respect to the second housing 110,which in the illustrated implementation 100 the example text andindications of functions of the keyboard 116 (e.g., numbers and/orletters) are aligned, generally.

In the second configuration 106, the example text is again illustratedas orientated with respect to the second housing 110 as was previouslyshown and described in relation to the first configuration 104. Forinstance, example text “Text Message from Sara” displayed on the displaydevice 114 is approximately aligned with the keyboard 116, e.g.,communications of text for respective keys of the keyboard 116. Thus, inthis manner a user of the mobile communications device 102 is providedwith a consistent and intuitive approach to interaction with the mobilecommunications device in a plurality of configurations, e.g., the firstand second configurations 104, 106.

The square form factor employed by the mobile communications device maybe suitable to support a wide variety of features. For example, thekeyboard 116 is illustrated as supporting a QWERTY configuration. Thisform factor may be particularly convenient to a user to utilize thepreviously described functionality of the mobile communications device102, such as to compose texts, play games, check email, “surf” theInternet and so on. Further, this form factor may also provide space toadd additional buttons to support a variety of additional functionality,further discussion of which may be found in relation to the followingfigure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example embodiment 200 in which the mobilecommunications device 102 of FIG. 1 includes a keyboard 116 in a QWERTYconfiguration having additional dedicated buttons to supply additionalfunctionality. The keyboard 116 includes a button 202 that is selectableusing a variety of techniques to initiate a variety of differentcorresponding functionality. For example, a user may press the button202 to initiate a “back” function, e.g., to navigate back through a userinterface when surfing the Internet, selecting songs, moving throughnavigation screens and so on. The button 202 may also be configured suchthat when the user holds the button 202 (e.g., presses the button for apredetermined amount of time that is greater than the previous example),a user interface is navigated back to a particular screen that isdesignated as “home”. Therefore, in this example the differenttechniques involve different respective amounts of time a button 202 ispressed by a user.

A variety of different home screens may be associated with a button 202.For instance, a particular webpage may be designated as home by a userin the user interface that is configured to browse the Internet. Inanother instance, the particular screen of the user interface that isdesignated as home may be an introductory screen of the user interface.In yet another instance, a particular screen of the user interface thatis designated as home is a root screen (e.g., such as an introductorymenu) of a hierarchy of a plurality of screens in the user interfacethat are navigable in a hierarchical arrangement. Thus, in this instancethe user is automatically returned to the root of the hierarchy afterholding the button 202 and may navigate sequentially through thehierarchy, one at a time, through successive presses of the button 202.In this way, available space on the mobile communications device (ormore particularly the keyboard 116) may be conserved and efficientlyutilized.

The keyboard 116 is also illustrated as including another button 204that is selectable to indicate a status of a user of the mobilecommunications device 102 to one or other users that are to receivemessages from the user of the mobile communications device 102. Forexample, in an instant messaging session a status indicator may besupplied to indicate a general mood of the user, e.g., happy, sad and soon. Thus, when the user is in an instant messaging context, the button204 may be used to indicate the status of the user of the mobilecommunications device 102 without navigating through one or more menus.

The button 204 may also be utilized in a variety of other contexts. Forexample, when the mobile communications device 102 is engaged in textmessaging (e.g., composing a text message), the button 204 may beutilized to input an emoticon to the text message. This input may beprovided in a variety of ways, such as to use different techniques(e.g., pressing or holding the button 204) to provide differentemoticons, to cause output of a menu having a plurality of emoticonsthat are selectable for input into the text message, and so on. Thus,button 204 may also be leveraged to provide a wide range offunctionality.

Although the buttons 202, 204 were described as dedicated hardwarebuttons in relation to FIG. 2, it should be readily apparent that avariety of other buttons may also be utilized, e.g., software buttons inconjunction with the display device 114 when configured as a touchscreen.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation 300 showing the mobilecommunications device 102 of FIGS. 1 and 2 in a side view. Asillustrated, the first housing 108 substantially covers the secondhousing 110 such that the keyboard 116 of FIGS. 1 and 2 is covered andtherefore protected from inadvertent input, contamination, and so on.Further, edges of the first and second housings 108, 110 are illustratedas rounded such that the mobile communications device 102 may becomfortably grasped by a user. A variety of other implementations arealso contemplated.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary implementation 400 of the mobilecommunications device 102 of FIGS. 1-3 in which camera functionality isincluded. A “back view” of the second housing 110 of the mobilecommunications device 102 is shown that includes a camera 402 and aflash 404. In other words, a side of the second housing 110 that isopposite to a side of the second housing 110 that includes the keyboard116 of FIGS. 1 and 2 is depicted.

Returning briefly now to FIG. 2, the keyboard 116 is orientated withinthe second housing 110 such that a top and a bottom of the housing 110is defined. For instance, the top of the keyboard 116 may be determinedfrom an arrangement of the keys of the keyboard as well as indicationsof respective functions of each of the keys, e.g., a particular letter,number and so on. Accordingly, the keyboard 116 may also define a topand bottom of the second housing 110.

Reference will now be made again to FIG. 4, the top 406 of the secondhousing 110 is depicted to follow the general orientation of FIG. 4. Asillustrated, the lens 402 and the flash 404 are disposed proximally tothe top 406 of the second housing 110. In this way, the second housing110 may be grasped by a user without interfering with the lens 402 orthe flash 404 in an intuitive manner.

Additionally, the lens 402 and the flash 404 are disposed at opposingsides of the top 406 of the second housing. For instance, the lens 402and the flash 404 are disposed at respective corners located at the top406 of the second housing 110 of the mobile communications device 102.Therefore, the likelihood that operation of the flash 404 will interferewith the lens 402 is reduced. A variety of other features may also berealized through placement of the lens 402 and a flash 404 at opposingsides of the second housing 110, such as to provide an expandedreflective area 408 that may be used by a user to preview a picture thatmay be taken of themselves, to reduce a form factor (e.g., thickness) ofthe second housing 110 through compact placement of these componentswith other components that provide the functionality of the mobilecommunications device 102 and so forth.

FIG. 5 illustrates various components of an example device 500 that canbe implemented in various embodiments as any type of a mobilecommunication device to implement embodiments of devices, features, andsystems for mobile communications. For example, device 500 can beimplemented as any of the mobile communications devices 102 describedwith reference to respective FIGS. 1-4. Device 500 can also beimplemented to access a network-based service, such as a contentservice.

Device 500 includes input(s) 502 that may include Internet Protocol (IP)inputs. Device 500 further includes communication interface(s) 504 thatcan be implemented as any one or more of a wireless interface, any typeof network interface, and as any other type of communication interface.A network interface provides a connection between device 500 and acommunication network by which other electronic and computing devicescan communicate data with device 500. A wireless interface enablesdevice 500 to operate as a mobile communication device for wirelesscommunications.

Device 500 also includes one or more processors 506 (e.g., any ofmicroprocessors, controllers, and the like) which process variouscomputer-executable instructions to control the operation of device 500and to communicate with other electronic devices. Device 500 can beimplemented with computer-readable media 508, such as one or more memorycomponents, examples of which include random access memory (RAM) andnon-volatile memory (e.g., any one or more of a read-only memory (ROM),flash memory, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.).

Computer-readable media 508 provides data storage to store content anddata 510, as well as device applications and any other types ofinformation and/or data related to operational aspects of device 500.For example, an operating system 512 can be maintained as a computerapplication with the computer-readable media 508 and executed onprocessor(s) 506. Device applications can also include a communicationmanager module 514 (which may be used to provide telephonicfunctionality) and a media manager 516.

Device 500 also includes an audio and/or video output 518 that providesaudio and/or video data to an audio rendering and/or display system 520.The audio rendering and/or display system 520 can be implemented asintegrated component(s) of the example device 500, and can include anycomponents that process, display, and/or otherwise render audio, video,and image data. Device 500 can also be implemented to provide a usertactile feedback, such as vibrate and haptics.

Generally, the blocks may be representative of modules that areconfigured to provide represented functionality. Further, any of thefunctions described herein can be implemented using software, firmware(e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manual processing, or a combination ofthese implementations. The terms “module,” “functionality,” and “logic”as used herein generally represent software, firmware, or a combinationof software and firmware. In the case of a software implementation, themodule, functionality, or logic represents program code that performsspecified tasks when executed on a processor (e.g., CPU or CPUs). Theprogram code can be stored in one or more computer readable memorydevices. The features of the techniques described above areplatform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be implemented ona variety of commercial computing platforms having a variety ofprocessors.

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaimed invention.

1. A mobile communications device comprising: a first housing thatincludes a display device; and a second housing that is moveablyattached to the first housing and that includes: a keyboard having anorientation that defines a top and a bottom of the second housing; and acamera and a flash disposed: adjacent to the top of an opposing side ofthe second housing from the keyboard; and at opposing sides, one toanother, at the top of the opposing side of the second housing.
 2. Amobile communications device as described in claim 1, wherein the cameraand the flash are disposed on the second housing such that the secondhousing may be grasped by a hand of a user without interfering with thecamera or the flash.
 3. A mobile communications device as described inclaim 1, wherein the keyboard defines the top of the second housingthrough arrangement of a plurality of keys of the keyboard.
 4. A mobilecommunications device as described in claim 3, wherein the keyboarddefines the top of the second housing through arrangement of indicationsof corresponding functions of a plurality of keys of the keyboard suchthat a top of the indications corresponds to the top of the secondhousing.
 5. A mobile communications device as described in claim 1,wherein the first and second housings are moveably attached, one toanother, between: a first configuration in which the first housingsubstantially covers the keyboard of the second housing; and a secondconfiguration in which the keyboard is exposed.
 6. A mobilecommunications device as described in claim 5, wherein: the firstconfiguration results in a substantially square form factor of themobile communications device along a plane that is parallel to an outersurface of the keyboard and an outer surface of the display device; andthe second configuration results in a substantially rectangular formfactor of the mobile communications device.
 7. A mobile communicationsdevice as described in claim 5, wherein the display device is viewablewhen in the first configuration and when in the second configuration. 8.A mobile communications device as described in claim 1, wherein: thefirst housing is substantially square along a plane that is parallel toan outer surface of the display device; and the second housing issubstantially square along a plane that is parallel to an outer surfaceof the keyboard.
 9. A mobile communications device as described in claim1, wherein a plurality of keys of the keyboard is arranged accordinglyto a QWERTY configuration.
 10. A mobile communications device asdescribed in claim 1, further comprising one or more modules that areconfigured to provide telephonic functionality.
 11. An apparatuscomprising: a display device; one or more modules that are configured tooutput a user interface on the display device that is navigable by auser; and a single button that is selectable using: a first technique tocause the one or more modules to navigate back through the userinterface; and a second technique to cause the one or more modules tonavigate to a particular screen of the user interface that is designatedas home.
 12. An apparatus as described in claim 11, wherein the firsttechnique and the second technique involve different respective amountsof time the single button is pressed.
 13. An apparatus as described inclaim 11, wherein the particular screen of the user interface that isdesignated as home is a particular webpage.
 14. An apparatus asdescribed in claim 11, wherein the particular screen of the userinterface that is designated as home is an introductory screen.
 15. Anapparatus as described in claim 11, wherein the particular screen of theuser interface that is designated as home is root screen of a hierarchyof a plurality of screens in the user interface that are navigable in ahierarchical arrangement.
 16. An apparatus as described in claim 11,wherein the one or more modules are further configured to providetelephonic functionality.
 17. An apparatus as described in claim 11,wherein the one or more modules are further configured to provide musicfunctionality.
 18. A mobile communications device comprising: a displaydevice; one or more modules that are configured to provide telephonicfunctionality and to output a user interface on the display device toform one or more messages for communication over a network; and a buttonthat is selectable in an instant messaging context by a user to causethe one or more modules to indicate a status of the user to one or moreother users that are to receive the one or more messages.
 19. A mobilecommunications device as described in claim 18, wherein the button isalso selectable in a text messaging context to supply an emoticon.
 20. Amobile communications device as described in claim 18, wherein thebutton is implemented as a dedicated hardware button.